Senate 1 has imposed penalties on Austria and Rapid following incidents in the Vienna derby. For the Hütteldorfer it was the third serious incident
Rapid Vienna must start the coming season in the Austrian Bundesliga with a minus of two points. This decision was made by Senate 1 of the league in light of security-related incidents during the Vienna derby against Austria (3:0) on February 25. “The conditional deduction of one point imposed by the protest committee on 29.02.2024 will be revoked and a further unconditional deduction of one point will be imposed,” the league announced on Tuesday evening.
Hütteldorfer were punished for breaching security at matches, misuse of pyrotechnics and discriminatory fan chants. The incident is classified as “third serious”. Rapid must also pay a fine of 40,000 euros. A further 20,000 euros was imposed conditionally if structural changes are made to a stadium gate. The club announced in the press release that it intended to take further legal action. For the time being, the club does not wish to comment on this decision.
New video has emerged
On Tuesday, Senate 1 also dealt with a newly surfaced video showing goalkeeper Niklas Hedl and offensive player Marco Grüll, among others, loudly chanting against the district of Favoriten, home of city rivals Austria, in the VIP area. “The Senate has assessed the content of the video to the effect that the players Niklas Hedl, Marco Grüll and Thorsten Schick visible on the video are guilty of offenses that have already been admitted and have thus been dealt with and sentenced in proceedings that have already taken place. This means that no new proceedings will be opened against the players,” it said.
However, proceedings will be opened against assistant coach Daniel Seper. “He was not seen on any of the videos known to date, so the facts of his case could not be assessed to date,” explained the league. Previously, another assistant coach, Stefan Kulovits, had already received a three-month suspension for discrimination, one month of which was conditional. Managing director Steffen Hofmann was suspended for two months, one month of which was unconditional, for defamation. In addition, the players Grüll, Guido Burgstaller, Schick and Maximilian Hofmann were punished with suspensions
Eclat after derby win
The Hütteldorfer defeated Austria 3-0 on February 25 and won a home derby for the first time in ten years. In the days that followed, disturbing videos emerged that had been recorded during the victory celebrations. First, it became public that managing director Hofmann lashed out at the city rivals. Hours later, a recording showed and heard Kulovits, Burgstaller, Grüll, Schick, Hofmann and Hedl chanting insulting and sometimes homophobic chants against Austria
After a protest by Rapid, Hedl’s unconditional suspension was changed to a conditional one. The 22-year-old goalkeeper’s age was seen by the league protest committee as a reason for mitigation, “in addition, he was more on the sidelines and was the least actively involved of all the players”, the Bundesliga explained at the time. Hedl was therefore able to play in the decisive match against Austria Klagenfurt to secure a place in the championship group and put in a strong performance in the 1-1 draw in Klagenfurt, which was enough to secure promotion. According to the new video, he got off lightly again.
The local rival was also punished. Austria had to pay 60,000 euros for the misuse of pyrotechnic objects. The incident was classified as the “first serious one”. The Austrians had to start last season with three minus points due to a license violation. Now the Hütteldorfer are facing a similar fate
